cesspool
/ˈsɛsˌpuːl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.68 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An underground pit where sewage is held.
Example Sentences
- "Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained."
Etymology
From earlier sesspool. Origin uncertain. Perhaps from Italian cesso (“privy, a toilet”) + English pool. Alternatively, an alteration of English dialectal suspool, from suss, soss (“a puddle; mire”) + pool. Another possible derivation is from a folk etymology (influence from pool) from earlier cesperalle, alteration of Middle English suspiral, from Middle French souspirail (“an air hole”), from soupirer, souspirer (“to sigh, breathe”), from Latin suspirare.